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Abstract

It has sometimes been proposed that the early period of resolution of neurologic deficit, which often follows acute cerebral infarction, is due to relaxation of a surrounding, second ary vasoconstriction. To investigate this as sumption, cerebral hemodynamics were studied by the inert gas method in 13 patients with re cent cerebral infarction. In 10 instances in the acute stage, there were no significant dif ferences between mean hemodynamic values based on jugular bulb blood samples from the side of the infarct and those from the contra- lateral side. Similarly, comparisons of mean values failed to disclose significant differences between studies performed shortly after the onset of the stroke and those done three weeks later, at a time when all patients investigated demonstrated clinical improvement. The inert gas method is not applicable to the study of the infarct itself, but it is considered valid for the demonstration of cerebral vasocon triction if the latter is sufficiently widespread. In the absence of hemodynamic change, it was concluded that this study does not support the vasoconstriction explanation. It was rec ognized, however, that vasoconstriction would need to be quite widespread to be detected by this method.